Integrity, drug testing budget to increase

Date: February 12 2013

Michael Lynch

VICTORIAN racing chiefs have vowed to increase their $15 million-a-year spending on integrity and drug testing if the sport's integrity surveillance squad seeks more cash to beef up its fight against cheats and fixers.

And they have warned that efforts are being stepped up to stamp out the use of peptides, a performance-enhancing stimulant that was singled out by the Australian Crime Commission last week in its report on the widespread use of drugs and the links with organised crime in Australian sport.

In the past eight months, racing has had several high-profile scandals involving race fixing, jockey betting and the administration of substances to horses.

But it escaped relatively lightly in the ACC's report, although racing executives were themselves put on notice about the use of peptides in horses.

The ACC report said it had ''identified interest in the administration of peptides to thoroughbred racehorses for the same reason that these substances are used on humans - injury rehabilitation and to promote recovery''.

The crimebusters made it clear they were prohibited to animals as they were to humans, and stressed that their usage remains the subject of ongoing inquiries by the ACC.

At the weekend, Fairfax Media exclusively reported that up to three high-profile Victorian horse trainers were ''persons of interest'' in the use of the outlawed growth hormone, which has a similar effect on racehorses to that of steroids by improving growth and development of muscles.

Dayle Brown, the general manager of integrity with Racing Victoria, said at a racing media briefing on Monday that the organisation had been testing for peptides prior to the spring carnival and had been sending samples to Hong Kong for analysis. Asked about the identity of the trainers in the Fairfax report, Brown said: ''All we know is what's been in the report - what that means I don't know.''

Asked about another drug - dermorphin, commonly known as ''frog juice'' - Brown said there had been ''no positives for frog juice''.

Bernard Saundry, the new CEO of Racing Victoria, agreed that public opinion was hardening against drug cheats, fixers and the criminal element in all sports, and racing, whose raison d'etre is wagering and gambling, was especially vulnerable to loss of public confidence.

''Integrity is our No. 1 priority,'' Saundry said, pointing out that Racing Integrity Commissioner Sal Perna's Own Motion Inquiry into the probity of the local industry had found there was ''no systemic race fixing'' in Victoria. Saundry acknowledged that ''there may be pockets'' of corrupt individuals, but warned ''those who do the wrong thing, they will be caught''.

''You only win trust by working hard and developing the right programs. I think we have done a lot, we can always improve. We are seeing with the AFL and NRL that they are trying to develop integrity units in their sports. We have done that. That's not to say we have got our heads in the sand or that we can rest on our laurels,'' Saundry added.

''Racing Victoria spends $15 million annually on integrity, drug testing and stewarding - the most of any sporting organisation in the country - and has more than 80 staff dedicated to these duties. With the state government's four-year, $4 million funding contribution to a new biological research unit at RASL [Racing Analytical Services Limited] we now have tests for multiple peptides.''

Racing Victoria will meet with Perna and the Office of Racing shortly to consider his suggestion for a statutory integrity body.

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